The governments in Baku and Ashgabat are in the process of negotiating a deal to enable the transportation of Turkmen gas to the EU by way of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Natig Aliev told journalists this week. The two options under consideration were the Trans-Caspian pipeline and a network of underwater pipelines linking the two countries’ offshore Caspian Sea platforms, he said.Somewhere between 10 and 30bcm could be delivered to the Azeri mainline through the Trans Caspian pipeline if Turkmenistan were to sign a long-term agreement with customers in Europe, he predicted.“This is a costly project,” he said, “and while Azerbaijan has no plans to construct a Trans-Caspian pipeline, we could transfer Turkmen gas after evaluating its profitability.” Azerbaijan could also transport 5bcm each year by linking the Azeri and Turkmen platforms with a series of underwater pipelines, he said.The dispute over the legal status of the Caspian Sea remains an obstacle to the construction of underwater pipelines with the rights of its five littoral states different if it is categorised as a lake or a sea. Russia in particular is opposed to the idea of a Trans Caspian pipeline which could end up reducing Europe’s dependence on its gas.